Insect Phenotypic Plasticity
Diversity of Responses
Editors: T.N. Ananthakrishnan: Formerly, Director, Entomology Research Institute, Chennai, India
Douglas Whitman: Professor, Department of Biology, Illinois State University, Normal, USA
ISBN 978-1-57808-322-0; 2005; 222 pages; US $ 72.80      Buy Now

Evolution has long been thought to occur primarily as a result of natural selection acting on existing genetic variation. However, this model is misleading, because natural selection acts not on genes, but on phenotypes. This is a critical concept, because phenotypes are determined, in part, by the environment. Indeed, all organisms exhibit phenotypic plasticity - the expression of different phenotypes in single genotype when subjected to different environments. Environments influence organismal development inducing different and permanent developmental outcomes. Organisms can also respond immediately to environmental factors with rapid and reversible changes in behavior, physiology, morphology, and life history. These short or long-term environmentally induced changes can have profound consequences for fitness. Hence, the environment serves a dual role in evolution: it may both generate phenotypic variation, and select among that variation. Thus, phenotypic plasticity plays an important role in evolution.

In Volume I of Insect Phenotypic Plasticity, the plasticity inherent in insects is documented. Phenotypically plastic traits include morphological, behavioral, and physiological characteristics. These environmentally induced differences can serve as the raw products upon which natural selection acts. Phenotypic plasticity in short deserves increased attention by those involved in studies on biological diversity and is of practical concern for agricultural and medical Entomology.


Contents:
. Perspectives and Dimensions of Phenotypic Plasticity in Insect : T.N. Ananthakrishnan
. Phenotypic Plasticity of Host Selection in Adult Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, Papilio
glaucus L. (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) : Radrigo J. Mercader and J. Mark Scriber
. Plasticity in Insect Responses to Variable Chemistry of Host Plants: Meena Haribal and
J. Alan A. Renwick
. Fighting, Flight and Fecundity: Behavioural Determinants of Thysanoptera Structural
Diversity: Laurence A. Mound
. Behavioral Diversity and its Apportionment in a Primitively Eusocial Wasp: R. Gadagkar
and K. Chandrashekara
. Clutch Size Plasticity in the Lepidoptera: James A. Fordyce
. The Importance of Phenotypic Plasticity in Herbivorous Insect Speciation: Gazi Görür
. Adaptive Allometric Responses of Galling Insects to Availability of Ovipositing Sites:
Andréa Lúcia Teixeira de Souza et al.